Presentation of Dinard

Dinard (10,988 inhabitants) is a famous seaside resort located opposite
Saint-Malo, across the river Rance.

Ivan Sache, 11 February 2006

Municipal flag of Dinard

In 1997, the Municipal Council of Dinard decided to adopt a new flag and
commissioned the Breton Vexillological
Society to submit proposals. The only requirement was an explicit
reference to King Arthur, the mythic founder of the city. The
final version of the flag was sketched by Philippe Rault and designed
by the professional art designer Jakez Derouét. It was
presented to the public on 25 May 1998.
The flag has ten horizontal, alternating blue and white stripes. Along the hoist is placed a wide vertical yellow stripe, charged with a standing black bear (in
Berlin style). The bear is surmonted by an
antique yellow crown.
Blue and white were adopted as the colors of the city in 1989. They refer
to the alleged arms of King Arthur (D'azur à trois
couronnes d'or: Azure, three crowns or). The horizontal stripes
represent the sea and the famous beach tents of Dinard, which are
blue and white striped. The number of stripes is meaningless.
Yellow represents the thin sand of the beaches.

The bear is the symbolic representation of King Arthur. King Arthur
landed near what is now Dinard in spring 513 to help the Breton King
Hoël to repel the Frisian invaders. He built there a fort named
Dinarthu, the Bear's fort. In Breton, arth (ancient
Breton) or arz (modern Breton) means "bear" and represents the
miltary power of royal essence. Dinarthu became Dinarth
and later Dinarz, translated to French as Dinart, and
finally and erroneously changed to Dinard when the place became
popular at the end of the 19th century.

P. Rault, two papers in Ar Banniel
[arb], #6, July 1998,
giving more details about the creation of the new flag, rejected
proposals (especially the first submissions including green color,
rejected by the Mayor who said: "Anyway, I don't like green!"),
and the evolution of the bear design (finally castrated according to
the Mayor's request).

Ivan Sache, 3 August 1998

Former flags of Dinard

Former flags of Dinard - Images by Ivan Sache, 11 September 2006

The flag used in Dinard until 1998 is a banner of the municipal arms, based on the arms of
the Priory of Dinard (founded 1324), De sinople à la croix
d'hermine (Vert, a cross ermine). A red vertical stripe is added
to each quarter and the ermine spots are bicolor (black and white),
a unique and unexplained case in Brittany. The flag is heraldically
incorrect (colour on colour in the quarters) and suffers from low
visibility. It was often replaced with a simpler vertically divided
green-red flag.

Flag controversy in Dinard

An article by Christelle
Guibert posted on the Saint-Malo Ouest-France website (article no longer on line) on 9 August
2005, Patrick Desjardins, the owner of the free newspaper Emeraude Journal sued
Marius Mallet, the Mayor of Dinard, because the municipal flag of
Dinard hoisted during the International Jumping competition was placed
above the French national flag and the flags of the participating
countries. Desjardins also complained that the flag of Dinard was twice
bigger than the other ones.
The public prosecutor's office (parquet) of Saint-Malo has to decide
what to do with the complaint and if the offence of "outrage to the
national flag" is relevant in that case. The plaintiff says that if he
wins he will give the money to a war veterans' association. It seems
that he already has a legal issue with the Mayor.
When the flag of Dinard was adopted, Marie-Paule
Chevalier, then President of the Association of the Friends of Dinard
and today Municipal Councillor in the opposition group, said that the
suppression of the former coat of arms with the ermines on the red and
green background was an outrage to the ancient inhabitants of Dinard.
She also complained that the new flag had not been discussed during any
session of the Municipal Council.

Yacht Club de Dinard

The Yacht-Club de Dinard (YCD) was registered on 5 September 1928.
The flag of YCD is white with two blue rectangle triangles placed near the hoist and a red star placed in the white part.
The burgee of YCD is a triangular version of the flag of the yacht club.